A Marketer’s Guide to Attribution – Part I

Until location data came about, marketers relied on digital metrics like Viewability, CTR, Engagement, CVR (Conversion Rate), etc. to understand campaign performance in real time – however, these type of metrics only judge the online effectiveness of digital media campaign. While an Ad might have overperformed industry benchmarks with a high CTR, high engagement rate and had a 100% Viewability, did it actually drive consumers to store? An Ad may have converted a large number of consumers because it drove traffic to a site or a promotion but did these consumers eventually make it to the offline destination? These digital metrics help marketers gauge how a campaign is performing online, but they never truly measure the offline impact.

When looking to bridge online and offline behaviors, marketers traditionally relied on sales attribution data. Typically these studies would have been executed after the campaign ended, sometimes taking months to complete. While marketers can gain valuable intelligence from this type of study, the results come too late. As a former media planner/buyer, I remember going through upfront and tactical planning. Without fast and reliable results, it is challenging, if not impossible, to implement this kind of offline insights for strategic planning.

Location Data has unlocked a whole new world, providing the ability to measure the offline impact of media campaigns. Location Data providers (like Cuebiq!) offer Attribution tools that measure daily offline visits for in-flight optimization as well as post-campaign visit lift reports that are available to marketers shortly after a campaign ends.

In Part II of A Marketer’s Guide to Attribution, we will take a deeper dive into Attribution tools that offer post campaign offline measurement and intelligence. We will discuss what types of insights they provide, their value and most importantly, how marketers can leverage these insights to enhance future strategic planning.